Chapter 7 — Hoa Mi Revenge of Vengeance

I shook my head, "Father is so seriously ill, I can't go rummaging through his trunks. Moreover, Tham Thanh Van has been in power for three years, so it's unlikely he hasn't touched that marriage certificate. I have to think of another way."
“So where can I find it?”
“His study.”
I lowered my voice and said, "The person Tham Thanh Van is extremely meticulous in everything he does."
“He must have hidden a copy of his own eight characters in his study.”
"Used to ask someone to judge fate, ask someone to do legal things, whatever."
Mother Vuong glanced at me and didn't say another word. She knew that Tham Thanh Van's study was located at the east end of the front yard. During the day, there was a private guard guarding it, and at night it was locked tightly, making it difficult to get in.
“I will go get it myself.”
I folded the piece of paper, tucked it into my lap, and placed it next to the blank talisman that Taoist Thanh Hu had given me, "This very night." That night, we waited until the third watch to begin taking action. Tham Thanh Van has a habit: every last few days of the month, he will stay in the lobby with Manager Ton to compare books until late at night. Today is the twenty-eighth day of the fifth month. When Manager Ton arrived in the afternoon, he was carrying a thick stack of books, so thick that they could be used as table legs. According to the rules in the previous life, they had to at least compare until Tiger time before disbanding. I listened to the faint night song of the nightingale in the yard, put on a dark cloak, then secretly climbed out of the window. I can draw the outline of the To family's grand courtyard with my eyes closed. From the West courtyard, cross the full moon gate, follow the gravel road behind the rockery to the end, which is the corridor of the front courtyard. At the end of the hallway, turn right, which is Tham Thanh Van's study room. The moonlight is not bright tonight. Last week's full moon left in the sky only a crescent moon as thin as a fishhook, just enough to illuminate the way. The study room door is locked with a brass padlock. I took down a silver hairpin from my bun. This is a skill I learned when I followed Patriarch to patrol the store when I was sixteen years old. The Su family has eight shops outside, each shop has two keys, one is given to the shopkeeper, one is kept at the Patriarch's place. But the Patriarch never took the key with him when he went out, because he hated the noise of the clanging and clanging. He taught us that if we only need a silver brooch and find the right groove of the tweezers, we can open any lock. The brass lock made a "rattling" sound and then opened. In the dark study room. I didn't dare light the lamp, I just borrowed a stream of moonlight through the window and groped. Tham Thanh Van's reading table is very tidy. The pen stand, inkstone, and paperweight are all in the correct position. The drawer has three floors, the top two floors are for office treasures and seals, the bottom floor is locked with a household lock. The structure of a household lock is much simpler than that of an external copper lock. You only need to gently flick it with a silver pin to open it. In the drawer were a few letters, a stack of land deeds, and a thin handwritten notebook. I flipped open the notebook, the first page was exactly what I was looking for. Tham Thanh Van's eight characters were written in cinnabar on yellow paper, and next to it was someone's autograph writing a passage explaining destiny. The name of the person written in the comment section is a name we have never seen, and is not the autobiography of Taoist Thanh Hu. It seems that Tham Thanh Van himself also found a high-ranking person to approve his destiny. I don't have time to look closely. I pulled out that yellow piece of paper, folded it and stuffed it in my lap, then put the notebook back in its original place, locked the drawer, and hooked the brass lock as before. As I walked out the study door, I suddenly stopped for a moment. On the opposite side of the hallway, some distance from the skylight and door

The lobby window is still lit. Tham Thanh Van's voice could be vaguely heard. It was unclear what he was saying, but his tone was extremely relaxed, even with a hint of arrogance. I stood still in the darkness for about a breath, then turned around and followed the old path back. Returning to the West Courtyard, I closed the door tightly and pulled out two pieces of paper from my lap. One sheet was brought back by Mother Vuong this afternoon, with Tham Thua An's eight characters on it. One sheet was just stolen from the study room, with Tham Thanh Van's eight characters on it. I took out the blank talisman of Taoist Thanh Hu from the cloth bag close to my body and spread it flat on the table. Light up the oil lamp, use a brush to soak in cinnabar ink. In the "Ton" frame, we carefully fill in each stroke of Tham Thanh Van's eight characters. After filling in, the tip of the brush moves to the top of the "Ich" box. I hesitated for a moment. If the "Ich" box is left blank, the luck that is sucked away will completely disappear. If you fill in someone else's eight words, luck will flow to that person. The tip of my pen hovered above the paper for about three breaths. Finally, I lowered the pen and wrote the three words "To Van Ngam" in the box "Ich", along with my own eight characters. Draining the fortunes of Tham Thanh Van and Tham Thua An, to compensate the To family. Put down your pen. Now everything is ready, only the last step is missing. That is to swap the old talisman at the bottom of the birdcage with this new talisman. Taoist Thanh Hu once said that when changing talismans, birds will cry and the sound will be very loud. We have to find an opportunity where everyone can't hear so we can act. Unfortunately, these past few days, old lady Tham has been mobilizing her subordinates to patrol around the Western Court area, under the pretext that she is afraid that the yard "will not be peaceful". Actually, it's to monitor me. Since Bach To To moved into the East Court, Mrs. Tham's supervision of me has become increasingly strict. I folded up the newly filled out talisman and stuffed it back into the cloth bag close to my body. No rush. And tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. Will definitely find an opportunity. The nightingale in the yard sang again. The cry in the middle of the night was completely different from during the day, deep and short, like it was swallowing something. Swallow it. Just swallow a few more mouthfuls. Wait until I finish swapping the talisman, for every mouthful you swallow, I have to force Tham Thanh Van to pull it out from his bones and vomit it back. I had just blown out the oil lamp and was about to lie down when someone suddenly pushed the door from the outside with force. Xuan Vu rushed forward, his hair disheveled, his face covered in sweat.
"Madam, it's not good. Manager Ton is leading people loudly in the lobby, reporting that the tea hill over there is flooded tonight, the entire tea star factory has burned down more than half."
“Grandpa said you should get over there quickly, and she said, she said—”
“What else to say?”
Xuan Vu's voice trembled:
"The old lady said it was because the manager of the tea plantation who replaced him a few days ago didn't take good care of the furnace. Said it was his responsibility."

My hand suddenly tightened around the talisman I had just hidden under my pillow. Tea hill. That is the To family's most profitable business. In a previous life, the tea hill incident happened in August. Now it comes earlier. This nightingale's speed of absorbing luck was much faster than its previous life. I put on my coat and followed Xuan Vu towards the lobby. When passing through the yard, the nightingale was hiding her neck in the cage, her iridescent feathers darkening under the moonlight. It tilted its head to look at me, a pale light reflected in its blue eyes. That spot of light seemed to be mocking. In the foyer, the lights were bright. Tham Thanh Van sat in the chair, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot. Sun Quan Su stood below, bending his knees, clutching the rosary in his hand, a layer of sweat beading on his forehead. The two errand men returning from the tea hill were kneeling on the ground, their clothes still smelling of fire smoke. Old Lady Tham was also present, sitting to the side coldly sipping tea. Bach To To stood behind her, bowed his head, and looked shy, not daring to speak. As soon as I entered the door, everyone's eyes turned to this direction.
“Van Ngam, do you know what terrible thing happened?”
Tham Thanh Van opened his mouth, his voice was not high, but each word uttered carried a sharp edge.
"The tea factory in the tea hill burned down six rooms, the tea shop lost at least five hundred taels."
I glanced at the two kneeling servants, then turned my eyes to Manager Ton.
“Where does fire come from?”
Before the errand boy could answer, Manager Ton quickly interrupted:
“Last month, the First Lady changed the manager at the tea hill, dismissed Lao Chu, and appointed a new person to replace him.”
"New people are not familiar with the furnace in the factory. At night, the fire is not buried tightly, and the wind blows in, causing it to catch fire."
"I replaced Lao Zhou because Lao Chu continuously falsified the tea maker's wages for three consecutive months, stealing more than a hundred taels of silver."